Written by Gabriela Estrada

A simple visit to the cafeteria can turn into a French lesson. Whether you live in a French-speaking country or abroad, this quintessential social setting can be perfect for practicing and improving your language skills. 

Today I want to dedicate this blog to beginner French speakers who love coffee, as I will give you strategies to develop key skills in reading, writing, listening and speaking in French while discovering the menu of your favorite coffee shop even from a distance! Read with me to the end and take note of each strategy - let's get started!

Developing language skills in a French-speaking cafeteria

French language competencies are those basic skills necessary to communicate effectively in French. These include:

• Listening comprehension: i.e. understanding what is said in conversations, audios or situations within the cafeteria context.

• Written comprehension (reading): is achieved by interpreting texts, signs on doors, walls, menu cards, etc.

• Oral expression (speaking): Is achieved by expressing oneself correctly, fluently and clearly when conversing or ordering.

• Written expression (when writing): is achieved by writing short texts with questions inherent to the menu, costs, address, to invite a friend for coffee, etc.

Developing each of these competencies in a balanced way is essential to achieve fluent communication in this social visit.

Strategies for learning French in the cafeteria

You can use these activities to improve understanding, retention and application of French language skills in the cafeteria. Let's see how:

1. Learn new words by exploring the menu. Whether inside the café or on the venue's website, focus your attention on all the names on the menu. Some key words and expressions might be:

• Pain au chocolat (chocolate bread), café latte (coffee with milk), sandwich au poulet (chicken sandwich).

Take your time to understand the menu and take advantage of the moment to expand your vocabulary and begin to enter the French-speaking culinary culture. If you are at the café, try to identify ingredients and dishes, and if you are far away, visit the online menu on the website of your favorite café and look for related information.

1. Invite a friend over for coffee. Do you have a learning partner? Because you can use this opportunity to practice your writing by inviting him or her over for coffee in French.

Practice from the greeting to the name of the cafeteria you would like to go to and what you would like to eat. Construct the sentence and check that it is correct.

If you are in another part of the world, imagine that you are writing to place a promotional order or to order a dessert, and so practice writing questions, opinions about menu items as if you were going to recommend them, etc. This exercise will improve your grammar and encourage creativity in expressing yourself. 

1. Practice with the cafeteria staff. When you enter the place, listen carefully to how the waiters or baristas talk to you, if they smile, if they are more sober, identify if they are offering you a coffee with sugar or without sugar. All these elements will give a linguistic character to your experience and you will begin to immerse yourself in the culture of the French-speaking community, which helps a lot to understand the language.

If you do not understand something, you can ask them to repeat, this will help you improve your listening comprehension and familiarize you with the rhythm and accents of French.

1. Order your coffee with dessert like a local. Speaking is one of the most challenging skills, but a coffee shop is an ideal place to practice with confidence. Try asking for familiar or easy words in French as well as more complex and unfamiliar ones - don't be afraid to pronounce new words!

If you are practicing at home, simulate this situation with a partner or record your voice to improve your pronunciation.

1. Learn from the moment you look up the address. Use the trip to the café as an opportunity to practice with street signs, French directions, whether to turn right or left, etc. Everything you read in French will be part of your learning.

If you can't physically be in a French-speaking coffee shop, don't worry, use online maps and take advantage of learning words related to locations and directions.

Not being in a French-speaking country such as France or Canada is not an excuse to limit the enjoyment of this experience. You can always learn French in a didactic and effective way. This is how we teach at Planeta Immiland Education with our specialized and certified teachers. specialized and certified teachers..

Learn French with Planeta Immiland Education

At Planeta Immiland Education, we offer English and French courses for beginners, intermediate and advanced learners. If you would like to learn more about our school's learning strategies, contact us at and find out how we teach our students to achieve high levels of language proficiency.

We are the first language school for immigration purposes for Canada and our certified teachers can teach you to speak French for work, academics, personal purposes or to immigrate to Canada. In addition, we are certified by Languages Canada, which guarantees a good language learning adapted to the Canadian reality.

Do you want to learn French in a practical and effective way? Visit us: https://www.planeta-immiland-education.com/cursos-frances and start your path to French as a second language today!

With love,

Planeta Immiland Education